Discussion post - episode 1

[yantantether]

I've just started a rewatch, and I thought it might be fun to put up discussion posts for anyone who's also rewatching, watching for the first time, or just has random thoughts. I'm watching on Viki, where there are 10 episodes of 45 minutes each, so I'll start with a short summary and then some brief thoughts of my own (and then hopefully everyone can join in in comments!) I'll aim to get these up twice a week, on Saturdays and Wednesdays.



Episode 1

We meet our leads! Tang Yi's efforts to move his gang into legit business and Meng Shao Fei's long-standing obsession with him are both sketched very vividly. We also get a quick picture of Jack's insouciance, Captain Shi and his hilarious exasperation with Meng Shao Fei, Zhao Zi and Meng Shao Fei's friendship, and Tang Yi's close relationship with Hong Ye. Following Tang Yi's confrontation with Wang Kunchen and the latter's murder, we learn that Chen Wenhao is returning from Cambodia and the joint police and Interpol investigation into him begins. The episode ends with Meng Shao Fei looking sadly at his mentor's ID card as he thinks of her.



I love just how quickly the vibe between Tang Yi and Meng Shao Fei comes across, with TY seemingly as cool as a cucumber and MSF all peacocky, frantic energy - maximum efficiency in a short show and a great credit to the writing and acting. I also love the lift scene for many reasons, but one is that we briefly see TY flustered. Having MSF all up in his face is clearly having an effect on him, before he turns the tables so delightfully.

It's clear from his comments about Tang Yi that Zhao Zi is already finding men attractive, even before Jack turns the mega-wattage of his flirting on him. I really like this - it's one reason that the drama feels so grounded in its queerness. Zhao Zi isn't "gay for you" he's just gay, even if he hasn't necessarily articulated it to himself yet.

MSF is SO EXTRA that the character could have potentially been a bit annoying, but he's just so funny and charming. The "again" in "I, Meng Shao Fei, am not afraid of getting sued by you again" really cracked me up. OH MSF.

JAAAAAAACK (that is all.)



(Mod, could we please have a rewatch/discussion tag?)

Comments

[no_detective]

oh yay, rewatch!

i love the way the pilot episode sets up the show. there's a lot of history at play, but it's presented very dynamically (later eps get a little more exposition-y with flashbacks and recounted memories etc). that opening scene, with tang yi filmed like smooth criminal/power from the shadows, and jack too cool to let himself be implicated even as he's arrested in the middle of a literal standoff? AMAZING. and i love tang yi's use of the Significant Lighter to set on fire the debt he owes to the other gang.

i also LOVE the first confrontation between tang yi and msf (tho i did kind of yell at a cop for pointing a gun at an unarmed civilian... dude, come on). you can tell there have in fact been four freakin' years of msf yelling righteously after tang yi, and tang yi being wayyyy too skilled to fall for it... but he also secretly respects the passion behind it, even as he's super annoyed by all the hassle. he can probably relate to msf's fervor in pursuing justice for a mentor's murder, which is what they have in common from the very start.

the tailor shop scene is DELIGHTFUL; it looks like msf never had the chance to observe tang yi that closely before. i love that he knows his schedule by heart and that he's noticed the regularity of it in the past year. this might be related to tang yi turning to the legal side of his businesses, and letting his second/third in command handle gang operations - he's accompanied by either jack or li zhide wherever he goes, and they both seem to run things on his behalf the rest of the time. since jack joined his gang about a year ago, he was probably hired by tang yi to help facilitate that process... anyway. another observation: msf discovers that tang yi can speak tenderly to someone, and it's ADORABLE.

poor captain shi. so much yelling to do, so little time... (btw, note on interior design choices: that green/living wall in the police station is a+++.)

after the gratuitous shower scene - thank you, female gaze among the production crew - we meet hong ye, who is as protective of her big brother as he is of her, which i love. i cracked up at her "i won't tell you who told me what's happening w the gang and the police bc if you keep firing people who tell me stuff, you'll end up without a crew" line. (their convo shows that tang yi is separating gang business from legal business and that he's ruthless in that separation - he's tough and determined as a leader.) she knows he's up to something, even if he doesn't want to involve her. and she's rightfully worried, after losing their father figure and almost losing her big brother 4yrs ago. i did LOL at her observation that he's getting too close with msf - oh, the foreshadowing! :D

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH THE ELEVATOR SCENE. i can't believe msf physically fights his way into the elevator, and then tries to give tang yi A GIFT OF KEYCHAIN (okay, it's a troll-y gift, but STILL). by this point, tang yi is self-aware enough to know he finds msf sort of vaguely, annoyingly attractive (i would bet some cash money he's had a fantasy or two about hate sex with the dogged cop - he's got a healthy imagination, okay - but he'd never pursue it) whereas msf is utterly oblivious, bless his socks. and he's trying to intimidate someone very intimidating, except he's SUCH A CINNAMON ROLL that he's playacting like a tough cop - and once he notices tang yi's blush, he laughs that his move worked at all?! OH MSF, YOU ADORABLE FAILBOAT.

and THEN tang yi decides to turn the police intimidation move, as playful as it was, into gangster intimidation with a side of gay chicken, and it all ends in handcuffs and an extremely flustered msf. (i'd also like to credit zz for planting the thought into msf's head that his obsession might be... a little more than just professional interest, because you know that thought flashes thru msf's mind when tang yi reaches for his back pocket.) i love that the dip in the elevator is filmed from like three angles and played in a cadence including slow motion, because that's totally when msf "fell" for the first time. (side note: i bet tang yi's wearing some tom ford fragrance & smells like very expensive, darkly dreamy sex.)

....right, where were we? oh yes - episode recap.

we see tang yi dealing with yet another kingpin, except as cool as he was in the opening scene, here he gets a bit hotheaded... because this confrontation is both a more direct threat, and personal.

i adore zz's purple-and-blue sweater and want one for myself. (it's the same sweater he wears the first time jack kisses him!)

interpol and unit 3 join forces to investigate the cambodian drug dealer's murder. tang yi, li zhide and jack were all caught on camera going to a party... but other cameras covering the building were damaged, so none of their alibis are 100% airtight. (besides, we saw tang yi and li zhide meeting with them, with jack presumably hiding in the trunk until he gets the chance to kill the kingpin, so... not a huge mystery.) the tension between the police unit and interpol is palpable and super understandable. i am sorry to report that i'm CHARMED over msf having a BAD REP among the interpol people - the cinnamon roll is the resident hothead!

finally, msf and his adorable cowlick are sadly sitting in the window and gazing at the SUBTLY SYMBOLIC PUZZLE BOX (the music box he got from his mentor). so many tropes, so many more to come!!! what a fun, fun show :D

[yantantether]

i bet tang yi's wearing some tom ford fragrance & smells like very expensive, darkly dreamy sex
HEAD CANON ACCEPTED

And, yeah, fic from Tang Yi's pov this early on, including his musings about how MSF's intense energy could be better channeled (eg while naked) would be GOOD TIMES.

[doctorskuld]

since jack joined his gang about a year ago, he was probably hired by tang yi to help facilitate that process...

You know, I had actually made that connection before, between Jack's appearance in the gang and the regularity of Tang Yi's scheduled, but you are totally on the money. That's an excellent observation!

another observation: msf discovers that tang yi can speak tenderly to someone, and it's ADORABLE.

Y E S. Zhao Zi is so right about MSF's crush on TY.
"If you pursued girls with as much intensity as you pursued Tang Yi, you'd have a dozen kids by now" INDEED.

(i would bet some cash money he's had a fantasy or two about hate sex with the dogged cop - he's got a healthy imagination, okay - but he'd never pursue it)

OH MY GOD, I had never considered that possibility before either, but I absolutely love it. OF COURSE Tang Yi has actually fantasized about having hatesex with MSF. Of course. *eyes the plot bunny farm*

into gangster intimidation with a side of gay chicken,

I almost spit out my coffee this morning reading this line. XDDDDD What an absolutely apt description.

(i'd also like to credit zz for planting the thought into msf's head that his obsession might be... a little more than just professional interest, because you know that thought flashes thru msf's mind when tang yi reaches for his back pocket.)

"You better not do anything!..." says MSF nervously as he realizes that oh no, Tang Yi smells like very expensive, darkly dreamy sex.

i adore zz's purple-and-blue sweater and want one for myself.

I love his purple and blue sweater. I love that Zhao Zi's style is 'sweater town' and just imagining him wearing that while holding hands with leather-jacket-motorcycle-gloves Jack makes me feel fizzy on the inside.

i am sorry to report that i'm CHARMED over msf having a BAD REP among the interpol people - the cinnamon roll is the resident hothead!

He is such a disaster. Can you imagine the Interpol Division hearing that they're working a case with Unit Three again and the groans that are heard across the office? Not that guy again.

[her_cool_aunt]

You've hit a lot of points about this episode that I'm totally in step with you about. Thank you.

by this point, tang yi is self-aware enough to know he finds msf sort of vaguely, annoyingly attractive

I'm not quite sure how, but during my first viewing I just didn't get this attraction thing so early on. So I was confused by TY giving MSF the advantage for a moment there. I think it's clearer if you think through the four previous years and what the first interaction between TY and MSF means in that context. I needed more obvious signals and less subtext. During my first watch, someone else pointed out the annoyed attraction thing, which suddenly made this - and TY's subsequent quite speedy fall into proper interest in MSF - make much more sense. So now I can re-watch and it all fits.